A packet forwarding method to shorten a transmission latency of an elephant flow is provided. In the method, for a first packet flow used as an elephant flow, a network device may receive a plurality of packets of the first packet flow, and determine a characteristic parameter of the first packet flow based on the plurality of packets, where the characteristic parameter of the first packet flow is used to indicate a transmission latency of the first packet flow. After determining the characteristic parameter of the first packet flow, the network device determines a forwarding policy of the first packet flow based on the characteristic parameter of the first packet flow. The forwarding policy of the first packet flow is used to indicate latency sensitivity of the first packet flow.